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Experts: Vacations good for your health

But many Americans aren’t using their time off or are taking work with them on vacation.

Experts say too many people bring their work with them on vacation.

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By Amelia Robinson, Staff Writer Updated 8:55 PM Sunday, June 12, 2011

Anne Weber, of Kettering, and her co-worker Heather Moore, of New Carlisle, both said they love their jobs at an area health care company.

But the women love their vacations too, and it’s not just because they are fun.

“You have to be mentally healthy,” Weber, 45, said. “To be mentally healthy, you can’t be at work all the time.”

Although research shows many Americans are reluctant to take a break, Premier Health Partners physician Walter Reiling said vacations help strengthen family ties and provide well documented health benefits.

Information harvested from the 20-year Framingham Heart Study shows that women who take at least two annual vacations are eight times less likely to develop heart disease or have a heart attack than those who vacation once every six years or less.

Reiling said men who do not vacation annually have a 20 percent higher risk of death and about a 30 percent greater risk of death from heart disease.

“There is no question that taking time away from work is beneficial in an emotional and physical way,” Reiling said, noting that there are other benefits.

A 2006 Air New Zealand study found that travelers’ work performance improved by nearly 25 percent after the vacation and they achieved three times more deep sleep.

Vacation time

Reiling said American perceptions about the importance of vacation are different than those of people in most other Western nations.

“It’s a feeling that if you take too much time away from work that you are lazy,” he said.

U.S. workers receive less vacation than the rest of the world on average, according to a 2007 report from the Center for Economic and Policy Research.

While most European workers are legally guaranteed at least 20 paid vacation days each year — 30 days off are typical in many countries —1 in 4 U.S. workers do not receive any paid vacation or paid holidays, the institute reported.

Vacation schedule

With her company’s small staff, Heather Moore said it is sometimes hard to schedule vacations. Though she will soon plan a getaway to Florida, the 31-year-old single mother said she doesn’t take all of the vacation time she’s accrued annually.

Moore is not alone.

Thirty-four percent of employed American adults didn’t use all of their vacation days in 2009, according to the Vacation Deprivation Survey by online travel site Expedia.

Money concerns, workload and scheduling issues were among several reason noted.

The average American worker earned 13 vacation days in 2009, but only used 10, Expedia reported.

British workers earned 26 days and left just 2 unused.

CNNMoney.com reports that the trend continued last year. Expedia’s 2010 survey shows that American workers earned an average 18 vacation days last year, but only used 14, surrendering 448 million days or roughly $67 billion to their employers, the news site says.

Work vacation

Experts say that it is not just that people don’t take vacation, it is that many bring work with them.

Seventy-two percent of those who responded to a recent Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey said they connect with work during vacation. Nearly a quarter said they check into work every day while off and another 19 percent said they checked in most days.

Micki Dudas, Director of Travel at AAA Miami Valley, said laptops and smart phones have become beach accessories.

“Unless you go far, far away where there are no satellites, people still operate like they are just remote,” she said. “We want people to get away. It rejuvenates their creativity and work performance increase.”

Dudas said the travel industry has had to get creative to convince travelers that vacationing is not a waste of time.

Volunteer vacations that allow people to donate time to a cause and vacation those that include learning opportunities have become more popular, she said.

“I honesty believe that the guilty comes from (the fact that) things are so bad. The economy is so bad,” Dudas said.

“People don’t want to look at someone who is losing their job and say, ‘I am taking a vacation,’ ” he said.

Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2384 or arobinson@DaytonDailyNews.com.

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